Can't Take the Sky from Me
by broadwaybear
Summary: It took a while, but she found the world she was meant for, while escaping the place she never belonged. Can she forgive those who would seek to tie her to the earth? The future is never certain, but Kit and Sky are determined to have a say in it.
1. Prolouge

Prolouge

She stared at him for a few moments, no, she didn't stare, she glared at him. A cold gleam in her eyes, a gleam of pure hate. The hurt was evident there also, the sense of betrayal, but only to the trained eye. Then came the mask, the sickly, sweet smile of perfect innocence and happiness. A mask he had seen her use a thousand times; on store owners they were about to rob, policemen who were suspicious of their motives or identities, and anyone else she felt it was necessary.

But never turned on him, never. Not once had she lied to him, no matter how good she was at it, not once had she masked her emotions from him. All their carefully constructed walls had been put down the moment they had met.

And now she turned on him.

It stung worse than any blow she could have thrown at him, and she was a born fighter. She knew exactly how much it hurt him, she knew it would cut a horrible scar in his very soul, and she was glad. She wanted to inflict the damage.

And he deserved it.

It was his fault. All of it. He was the one who had convinced her to trust new people, even for a few days and it had ended terribly. She was being forced back into the world she had run from for so long, forced into a life of falsehoods far worse than the lies she told hundreds of times a day to get by. A world of fake laughter and hawk eyes waiting for the first mistake to be made.

And it was his fault.

"Sky… I'm so…" he began, his voice a whisper.

"My name," she said cutting him off instantly with the false warmth in her voice and a barely concealed threat. "is Skylar Khan. I suggest you remember that." and she turned away from him, without meeting his eyes, closed the door and walked out of his life.

Kit Cloudkicker fell to his knees and sobbed.

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Just an idea I'm playing with. I realize there isn't much to go by yet so I'll try to update with the first official chapter soon. In the mean time; Update anyway!

Much love,

BBear


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Raucous laughter billowed out from the customers in the small, crowded bar. All were pilots, resting up as their planes were fueled and enjoying each others company before heading back to their demanding jobs. The current reason for laughter were tales from the well known pilot, Baloo, about a recent run in from the vicious pirate prince Don Carnage.

"So there I was. Pirates on all sides." Baloo told his crowd of listeners, dramatically, "Separated from the Sea Duck, I had no chance of gettin' out!" He paused for dramatic effect and winked at his navigator. "Then, in comes Kit, swooping down, covered in the very feathers we was transporting and he yells out; 'Pirates beware! I am the Angel of Death, and God does not like thee! Run, run and repent of your sins!'" Baloo said in a high pitched key.

'My voice doesn't sound like that!" Kit interjected.

Baloo waved him down, "I'm just playin 'Lil Britches. Now, like I was saying, the pirates start runnin' all over tryin' to apologize and make up for their sins, swearing to never plunder again! Then, they let me GO!" the brought on another round of roaring laughter, even from Kit.

"Well, we high tailed it out of there quick after that. I bet old Carny's still tryin' to get them back together!" Baloo finished, still laughing.

"Whew, no one tells a story like you, Baloo." Louie, the bar owner, complimented.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for havin' the best, dang navigator in the world." Baloo informed his monkey friend, turning all eyes in the bar to thirteen year-old Kit Cloudkicker, sitting next to him at the bar.

"That'd be so, I 'spose." Louie agreed, "One Super, Special, Sundae for the hero… on the house."

"Aw, thanks guys." Kit replied, looking down at his feet, trying to hide his blush.

"Our pleasure." Louie replied, coolly sliding a big glass full of ice cream towards the young bear cub.

"Yeah, take some credit. You're _my _partner in crime after all." Baloo smiled and patted his back while stealing a scoop of ice cream.

Kit playfully slide the tall glass away from the big bear, laughing, then he grabbed an extra spoon and offered to share.

"Well, thank you 'Lil Britches." Baloo stated. "You must be feelin' generous today."

Kit simply nodded, not wanting to go into why he really felt like sharing. The moment the words 'partners in crime' left the big bears lips Kit felt like crying. Once upon a time he had a partner in _real_ crime, nothing majorly bad, only the things they couldn't afford. Which was everything.

Kit excused himself with a reminder to Baloo to save him some ice cream, claiming he was feeling a little claustrophobic. He exited the bar and walked out onto the dock. The monkeys who usually took care of fueling and repairs must've been on break, because no one was out there. That was all right, though, Kit needed some time alone.

He took a breath of the cool night air, drinking the scent of salt water and engine oil that had become so familiar to him in the last year. He steeled himself for the painful memories he knew where about to be unleashed in his mind. He took another breath… and let them come.

It still hurt terribly, even after four years, the day he had met his partner, was the day his life changed in the best way possible…

_Running was second nature to the 9 year-old Kit Cloudkicker. This was just another part of everyday life. Running from the cops that is. He knew every hiding place in downtown Chicago, the Windy City was his home. He had grown up there and, after running from foster care, came straight back._

_Right now the cops were chasing him straight to a brick wall though, somehow he had gotten herded to a dead end. The wall was only up about fifteen feet high, unfortunately, that was just a little to high for him._

"_It's all right kid." The cop reassured him, "We're not gonna hurt you. You can return the stuff to the Wal-Mart owner and we'll head down to the station and call your parents alright?"_

_Kit was stuck, obviously he couldn't go with the officers, but there was no way he was going to make it over the wall without help. And he'd never needed help before._

"_Come on kid, you're gonna be fine. Just. Come. Quietly." the big hippo coaxed._

'Yeah, like I'd ever come quietly' _Kit thought. Although he didn't know how he was going to get out of this one. There were trash bins up against the wall, but they didn't look like they would hold his weight very well. Then, suddenly, a face appeared above the wall. Kit jumped back in surprise, looking back he knew the cops were to far away to see her._

_She was a young tiger with shiny, red fur that was streaked through with black. She had a sharp nose and a smart looking face, her eyes were flashing quickly between Kit and the police._

_She glanced down at the trash bins and whispered "Jump up off the bins, I'll pull you up and over." _

_Kit hesitated and looked her in the eyes. She looked straight back, a fierce, challenging look in her deep, black eyes, but also an honest look, one that told him he could trust her. _

_He turned swiftly to the cops who were still calling to him. He smirked and took a step forward. "Oh, sure I'll come with you… WHEN HELL FEEZES OVER!" he shouted loudly, then he leaped on to the trash bins and stretched out his hand. He was almost surprised when he felt a firm, strong hand grasped his own and began pulling him up. He looked up once more and met her eyes again. There was a triumphant smile there, and he knew that he had made a friend in that one moment._

_She pulled him over and said; "Nice parting line."_

"_Yes, I thought it had a nice ring to it." he replied, they both burst out laughing, then they simultaneously heard voices of more cops heading a few streets down. The two got up and ran; together for the first time._

"_Sky, by the way." She held out her hand as they ran._

"_Kit, Kit Cloudkicker" he took her hand shook it firmly, smiling at this person he knew he'd be staying with for a long time..._

Tears streamed silently down Kit's face, remembering. After just two years of moving around, city to city whenever they began to look suspicious in each place, of getting out of scrape after scrape, of relying and trusting each other with everything, their time together was cut short. The pirates had captured him, forcefully pulling him away from his best friend.

Kit roughly brushed the tears away, _It's no use crying. It's been two years, last time I saw here we were in San Francisco, she'll be long gone._

He straightened up and leapt from his perch on a wooden barrel, pushing the thoughts away and preparing to go back in side. He was down the dock and about to open the door, when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of startling red fur, it almost looked like…

_No!_ he insisted to himself, _It's just you're stupid imagination._ He had done it a thousand times in the last two years, imagining seeing a glimpse of Sky everywhere he was, every red tigress looked like her. No, he would not let himself look this time.

He put on a smile, a trick he had learned from Sky herself, and walked in the door.

"Hey, kid, you feel better?" Baloo asked, smiling at him.

"Absolutely, you save me any ice cream?" Kit replied, all traces of his former sadness were gone now, dissolving in the warm glow of family and friendship that was thick in the air.

Baloo pushed the half full glass towards Kit as the cub took a seat. "O'course. Did you think I'd forget about you?"

"Yes." Baloo pushed him playfully, Kit laughed and dug into his treat.

Half an hour later Kit looked at his watch and shouted, "Baloo, it's eight o'clock! If we don't get back on time Miss Cunningham'll kill us!"

"Relax 'Lil Britches, we'll get back on time. But we probably should be goin'." Baloo sighed and said goodbye to Louie and the other patrons of the bar.

"Don' be a stranger. 'cause I don't think it's possible for you to get any stranger!" Louie whooped. Baloo laughed and left the bar, Kit trailing close behind.

"Don't worry Kit. We're gonna make it in plenty of time." Baloo reassured the cub as they took they're respective seats in the cockpit.

Kit laughed and rolled his eyes at the man who was the closest thing to a father that he had every known. Then, he let out a big yawn.

"Why don't you take a snooze? You've had a long day." Baloo cut him off before he could argue, "Go on now, I'll get us home safe and sound, don't worry." Kit smiled and went his bunk, then, he did exactly what Baloo told him to. He lay down and slept, really trusting that there was nothing to worry about…

"Kit wake up. Help me unload this cargo so we can both get some shut eye." Kit blinked his eyes against the black of sleep. Were they back already? He felt as if he had only slept a few moments. He nodded an affirmative to Baloo and mumbled something incoherently. He stumbled out of his comfortable bunk and into the cool night air. He pulled on his discarded cap and went out into the cargo bay.

He began working, still half asleep, pulling out boxes and setting them on the pier to be taken inside by Baloo.

_At least they're only feathers,_ he thought. Then he looked up at a particularly high stack and wondered who had made one so high and how he was supposed to get it down? He shook his head and decided to just grab the top one. Reaching far above his head he grabbed the top box. _This isn't so bad,_ he thought… Then he dropped the box.

Feathers went flying everywhere as that box knocked down the five boxes underneath it and they all broke open. Kit brushed feathers off of himself and heard Baloo calling to him to see if he was all right.

He started sitting up and replying; "Yeah, I'm f…" he froze.

He was staring into a smart looking face with a sharp nose. Caught up in a gaze that mirrored his own shock. A gaze that emanated from a very familiar set of deep, black eyes…

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Dun,dun,dun! Bet you didn't see that coming! Just kidding. Here's more to work with, so please review, I only got one last time!

Much love,

BBear


End file.
